Chapman Tripp advises on Crown Irrigation's first investment

​Chapman Tripp is advising Crown Irrigation Investments Limited (Crown Irrigation) on its conditional agreement to invest $6.5m in the Central Plains Water Scheme. The subordinated debt finance facility represents Crown Irrigation’s first investment into a regional irrigation scheme and will enable excess capacity to be built during stage one of the scheme, assisting the development of later stages.

Mark Reese said: “We are pleased to have assisted Crown Irrigation in reaching this milestone. Crown Irrigation is set to play an important role in the development of New Zealand’s irrigation infrastructure and we congratulate them on entering into this conditional agreement with Central Plains Water.

“Chapman Tripp’s strong expertise in project finance, resource management and infrastructure, along with our extensive water scheme experience, means we are well placed to assist Crown Irrigation with this investment.”

Financial close for the investment is expected to be reached before mid-2014.

Chapman Tripp is Crown Irrigation’s primary legal adviser and has acted for the company on a range of establishment matters.

Crown Irrigation is a Crown-owned company which was established in 2013 to invest in off-farm irrigation infrastructure. By investing to help mitigate potential demand shortfall, Crown Irrigation will allow irrigation schemes to be built to an optimal size to maximise regional economic benefits. The Government has signalled its willingness to invest up to $400 million through Crown Irrigation to achieve this purpose.